Sigma rule: Potential Register_App.Vbs LOLScript Abuse

A detection rule from the SigmaHQ repository, shown as its author published it. Dataset version ref-b0cb2db90491, updated 2022-07-07T00:00:00.000Z.

Rule

Title: Potential Register_App.Vbs LOLScript Abuse
Status: test
Level: medium
Author: Austin Songer @austinsonger
Date: 2021-11-05
Modified: 2022-07-07
File: rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_lolscript_register_app.yml
Commit: ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84

Detects potential abuse of the "register_app.vbs" script that is part of the Windows SDK. The script offers the capability to register new VSS/VDS Provider as a COM+ application. Attackers can use this to install malicious DLLs for persistence and execution.

Log source

product: windows
category: process_creation

Detection

selection_img:
    - Image|endswith:
          - '\cscript.exe'
          - '\wscript.exe'
    - OriginalFileName:
          - 'cscript.exe'
          - 'wscript.exe'
selection_cli:
    CommandLine|contains: '.vbs -register ' # register_app.vbs
condition: all of selection*

False positives (as the rule lists them)

Other VB scripts that leverage the same starting command line flags

MITRE ATT&CK ids this rule names

T1218

References

Read on 2026-11-03T00:58:21.399Z under licence sigma-drl-1.1@d5f4c36a from https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_lolscript_register_app.yml

Sources and licences

SigmaHQ
"Potential Register_App.Vbs LOLScript Abuse" by Austin Songer @austinsonger (SigmaHQ). Rule: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/sigma/blob/ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84/rules/windows/process_creation/proc_creation_win_lolscript_register_app.yml.
Licensed under the Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1: https://github.com/SigmaHQ/Detection-Rule-License
Detection Rule License (DRL) 1.1

Cite this page

Dragons Eye Ransomware Tracker, "Sigma rule: Potential Register_App.Vbs LOLScript Abuse",
entity page, dataset version ref-b0cb2db90491, updated 2022-07-07T00:00:00.000Z,
https://ransomware-tracker.com/detections/sigma/28c8f68b-098d-45af-8d43-8089f3e35403 (accessed 2026-11-03).
Underlying source: SigmaHQ rule 28c8f68b-098d-45af-8d43-8089f3e35403, commit ccbb0369507f796db0b0ae6854c8a2be471b9d84.

Pages change. The dataset version identifies the data, but no archive of old versions is kept, so this citation cannot be replayed later.